stafford



A. E. STAFFORD. 4

FILLING END CLEARER FOR FILLING REPLENISHING LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

M Afly sv \nvenToT. Alfred E sTufford Patented July 11, 1922.

byflawl Wk A. E. STAFFORD.

FILLING END CLEARER FOR FILLING REPLENISHING LOOIVIS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24. I920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Fig.2.

AIFred ESTcaIFord WMMOKZLM AITys.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED E. STAFFORD, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPERCORPORATION, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 11, 1922.

App1ication filed February 24, 1920. Serial No. 360,893.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, ALFRED E. STAFFORD, a citizen of the. United States,and resident of Hopcdale, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts,have invented an Improvement in Filling-End Clearers for Filling-Replenishing Looms, of which the following description, in connectionwith the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters onthe drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to improvements in filling end cleaners forautomatic filling replenishing looms and the object thereof is t providemeans for removing from the shuttle the trailing end of filling leadingfrom an abandoned filling carrier after it has been discharged from theshuttle by the transferring mechanism.

When transfer takes place in automatic. filling replenishing looms, thefilling which leads from the web of cloth to the filling carrier whichis to be discharged, is severed either closely adjacent to or within ashort distance of the selvage of the web of cloth just before thetransferrer acts to supply the shuttle with a fresh filling carrier andthereby knock the abandoned filling carrier from the shuttle.

The abandoned filling carrier in falling from the shuttle usually drawsthe filling end through the eye of the shuttle, but in some instancesthe filling unwinds from the filling carrier with such rapidity that atrailing end remains which leads from the abandoned filling carrierthrough the eye of the shuttle. If then the shuttle is picked thistrailing filling end is likely to be drawn into the web of cloth therebyproducing an imperfection.

The present invention contemplates means for clearing this trailing endof filling from the shuttle before the latter is picked, therebypreventing the trailing filling end from being drawn into the cloth.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for actuating thefilling end clearer operable from the mechanism which controls thetransferrer, whereby the movement of the filling end clearer will beproperly coordinated with the action of the transferring mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide means carried by, oroperable from the lay which will act to remove the trailing end of thefilling from the filling end clearer thereby maintaining thelatter inproper operative condition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a filling end clearerwhich can be readily applied to usual types of looms without anymaterial modification in the structure.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear fromthe following description and the accompanying drawings and will bepointed out in the annexed claims.

The drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention asapplied to the well known Northrop type of automatic fillingreplenishing loom.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an end elevation, partly in vertical cross section, of thebattery end of the loom illustrating the preferred embodiment of myinvention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a detail side elevation of a portion of the loom embodying myinvention.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the lay showingdiagrammatically the relative position of the filling end clearer to thelay and the means carried by the controller rod for actuating saidfilling end clearer.

A selected embodiment of the invention is disclosed herein as applied toan automatic filling replenishing loom of the Northrop type in which theframe or loom side 1 Sup ports, at the transfer end of the loom, ahopper stand 2 upon which is mounted a rotary hopper 3 which carries asupply of fresh filling carriers 4. The lay 5, which is mounted upon theusual swords 6, is provided at the transfer end beneath the shuttle box7 with a vertical opening 8 to permit the downward discharge of anabandoned filling carrier when the transferrer thrusts the fresh fillingcarrier into the shuttle and thereby drives the abandoned fillingcarrier from it.

The transferrer 9 may be of the usual character comprising a bell crankshaped lever pivotally mounted upon a stud lO-on the hopper stand, onearm of said lever being provided with a head 11 adapted to engage thepositioned fresh filling carrier to thrust it into the shuttle, theother arm 12 of said lever being provided with a pivotally mounted dog13 adapted to be raised by suitable controller mechanism into the pathof a hunter 14 upon the lay as is usual in looms of this type.

Any usual controller mechanism may be employed; consequently, it hasbeen deemed sufficient herein to illustrate only the controller rod 15which extends longitudinally of the loom and to which a bracket 16 issecured which carries an arm 17 which serves to control the operation ofthe filling end clearer.-

The filling end clearer comprises a plate 18 having at'its upper portionan extension 19 provided with serrated edges 20, 21 which extend alongthe field through which the abandoned filling carrier is discharged. Theplate 18 is provided at its lower end with bosses 22, 23 which arepivotally mounted upon a shaft 24 which is fixedly secured to a bracket25 which is adjustably mounted upon the loom side 1 by bolt and slotconnections 26, 27.

The plate 18 is secured against end-wise movement upon the shaft 24 bymeans of a collar 28 which abuts against one end of the boss 23, and abracket 29 which is fixedly securedto the shaft 24 by a set screw 30 andis provided with a downward and lateral extension 31 in which is mounteda retaining plunger 32 provided at .its upper end with an invertedV-shaped top, the members of which are adapted to engage respectivelyinclined faces 33, 34 formed on the under-side of the boss 23. i

The top of the plunger 32 is yieldingly held .in engagement with one ofthe faces 33, 34 by a helical spring 35 seated in a chamber in theextension 31 of the bracket 29 and which supports the lower end of theplunger 32.

It will be obvious that by this construction the clearer will be held bythe plun er 32 either in the position illustrated in fuil lines in Fig.1 and in dotted lines in Fig. 3, or in the position illustrated in fulllines in Fig. 3, and vibration of the clearer prevented when in eitherposition.

The osition in which the clearer is held desirab y is controlled fromthe controlling mechanism which initiates the action of the transferringmechanism. In the preferred embodiment of the invention herein the arm17 is provided with a downwardly extending inclined portion 36 the underedge 37 of which provides a cam which enga es a pin 38 extending fromthe end of the lling end clearer plate 18. The portion 36 of the arm 17merges into a horizontal extension 39 having at its end a stud 40 whichforms an anchorage for a helical spring 41, the other end of which issecured to the pin 38.

During the normal operation of the loom the controller rod 15 remains atrest and the arm 17 .-is retained in the horizontal position illustratedin Fig. 1, at which time the upper end of the cam 37 holds the pin 38down thereby retaining the filling end clearer plate in the positionillustrated in Fig. 1. When transfer is called for-the controller rod 16is rocked, thereby raising the arm 17 and re lieving the pressure of thecam 37 upon the pin 38, whereupon the spring 41 oscillates the fillingend clearer rearwardly to the osition illustrated in Fig. 3, in whichposition its end engages the rear wall of the opening 8 in the lay whenthe lay has moved forward beneath the hopper to transferring position,but at the same time the controller has elevated the dog 13 into thepath of the hunter 14 so that just as the lay has reached transferringposition the transferrer is operated to thrust a fresh filling carrierinto the shuttle and thereby knock the abandoned filling carrier fromit.

As soon as the transfer action has taken place the controller isrestored to its normal position thereby depressing the arm 17 andcausing the cam face 37 of the portion 36 of said arm to act upon thepin 38 and force the filling end clearer to its normal position. Thiscauses the filling end clearer to sweep across the path of thedischarged abandoned filling carrier thereby causing the clearer to whipthe trailing filling end, which runs from the abandoned filling carrierto the shuttle, from the eye of the shuttle thus clearing the shuttle ofthe trailing end, so that there is no possibility of the trailing endbeing drawn into the web of cloth upon the next pick of the shuttleafter transfer.

In order to provide a more effective means for removing the trailing endof the abandoned filling carrier from the shuttle, and also to providemeans for detaching said trailing end from the filling end clearer, asupplemental filling end catcher desirably maybe secured to the lay insuch a manner that it will move in a direction opposite to the directionof effective movement of the filling end clearer.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed herein thesupplemental filling end catcher is in the form of a serrated plate 42which extends in parallelism with the extension 19 of the filling endcatcher along in front of the path of the discharged filling carrier,the plate 42 being provided with an extension 43 which desirably issecured to a ledge 44 upon a bracket 45 which carries the picker check.

In the operation of the loom, therefore, the extension 19 of the clearerlies closely adjacent the rear wall of the opening of the lav and isbehind the path of the abandoned filling carrier as it drops from theshuttle, while the filling end catcher 42 lies in front of the path ofthe abandoned filling carrier. Vhen the filling end clearer is actuatedto whip the filling end from the shuttle it carries the strand againstthe serrations of the catcher 42, thereby forming a partial anchoragefor the strand of filling and assisting in whipping its end from theshuttle. When the lay recedes after transfer has taken place and thefilling end cleared from the shuttle the filling end catcher 42 recedingwith the lay to which it is attached serves to draw the free end of thefilling from the filling end clearer thereby preventing the massing oftrailing ends upon it and insuring its proper operation in subsequenttrans fer operations.

It will be understood that the embodiment of the invention disclosedherein is of an illustrative character and is not restrictive and thatvarious modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of thefollowing claims and that the invention may be adapted to other forms oflooms. It will also be understood that any suitable means may beprovided for actuating the filling end clearer to cause it to clear thetrailing filling end from the shuttle before the first pick takes place,after transfer has been effected, with in the meaning and scope of theclaims herein.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In an automatic filling replenishing loom comprising a lay having anopening therethrough to permit the discharge of an abandon d fillingcarrier, and transferring mechanism, a filling end clearer pivotallymounted to oscillate below the path of reciprocation of the lay, meansfor positioning the filling end clearer adjacent the rear wall of theaperture in the lay; as the lay approaches transfer position, means forcausing the clearer to sweep transversely across the path of theabandoned filling carrier after transfer, before the shuttle ispicked,-after having been supplied with a fresh filling carrier, andmeans carried by the lay for removing the filling end from the fillingend clearer upon backward movement of the lay.

2. In an automatic: filling replenishing loom comprising a lay having anopening therethrough to permit the discharge of an abandoned fillingcarrier, transferring mechanism and controlling mechanism for saidtransferring mechanism including a controller rod, a filling end clearerpivotally mounted to oscillate below the plane of re ciprocation of saidlay, spring actuated retaining means for holding said clearer alternatively on opposite sides of the path of the abandoned fillingcarrier and acting to prevent vibration of said clearer and meansconnected to said controller rod and operated thereby for oscillatingsaid clearer transversely across the path of the abandoned fillingcarrier.

3. In an automatic filling replenishing loom comprising a lay having anopening therethrough to permit the discharge of an abandoned fillingcarrier,transferring mechanism, a filling end clearer pivotally mountedto oscillate across the path of the abandor ed filling carrier and belowthe path of reciprocz-ition of said lay and resilient means acting toretain said filling end clearer alternatively upon opposite sides of thepath of the abandoned filling carrier and spring actuated means operablein conjunction with said transfer mechanism for oscillating said fillingend clearer from one position to the other.

l. In an automatic filling replenishing loom comprising a lay having anopening therethrough to permit the discharge of an abandoned fillingcarrier,transferring mechanism, a filling end clearer pivotally mountedto oscillate across the path of the abandoned filling carrier andbelow'the path of reciprocation of said lay, and a spring actuatedplunger acting to retain said filling end clearer alternatively uponopposite sides of the path of the abandoned filling carrier, springactuated means operable in conjunction with said transfer mechanism foroscillating said filling carrier from one position to the other, andmeans for vertically adjusting the said filling end clearer and plunger.

5 In an autoi'na'tic filling replenishing loom comprising a lay havingan opening therethrough to permit the discharge of an abandoned fillingcarrier,transferring mechanism, a filling end clearer pivotally mountedto oscillate below the path of reciprocation of said lay, springactuated means for holding said clearer alternatively 0n opposite sidesof the path of the abandoned filling carrier and retaining meansoperable by the transferring mechanism to swing said filling end cleareracross the path of the abandoned filling carrier.

6. In an automatic filling replenishing loom comprising a lay having anopening therethrough to permit the discharge of an abandoned fillingcarrier and transferring mechanism; a filling end clearer, havingserrated upper and lower edges pivotally mounted to oscillate below andadjacent to the path of the lay, means operable by the transferringmechanism upon call for trans-- filling end therefrom upon backwardmovement of the lay.

7. In an automatic loom comprising a lay having an opening therethroughto permit the discharge of an abandoned filling carrier transferringmechanism and controlling mechanism therefor; a filling end clearerpivotally mounted to oscillate across the path of the abandoned fillingcarrier, resilient means rendered operable by the movement of thecontrolling mechanism, upon call for transfer, to swing said filling endclearer from normal position and to yieldably position said filling endclearer adjacent the rear wall of the opening in the lay as the layapproaches transferring position, and means for positively swinging saidclearer across the path of the abandoned filling carrier after transferto normal position.

*8. In an automatic filling replenishing loom comprising a lay having anopening therethrough to permit the discharge of an abandoned fillingcarrier, transferring mechanism and controlling mechanism therefor,

including a controller rod; a filling end clearer pivotally mounted tooscillate across the path of the abandoned filling carrier, an arm onsaid controller rod movable upward ly upon call for transfer, a springconnected to said controller rod and to said filling end cleareroperable by the upward movementof said arm to position said filling endclearer adjacent the rear Wall of the opening in the lay as the layapproaches transferring position, and a cam on said arm positioned toengage said filling end clearer upon downward movement of said arm andacting to swing said clearer across the path of the abandoned fillingcarrier as the controller mechanism is restored to normal position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ALFRED E. STAFFORD.

